I feel like doing something a bit weird, and so, I bring to you weird ideas!

I'm looking for small to moderate groups for these, though in the case of the first idea (WotG) I might be able to run multiple small (3-4 person) groups simultaneously as opposed to one medium or large sized one. The games, in both cases, are expected to be Non-Consensual Exotic System, not for any particular plans for rough/weird stuff, but just because I don't like to go into things with restrictions in place.

Naruto: After the Storm [Weapons of the Gods]

The Third Hokage of Konoha has fallen in battle, the Great Alliance of the Country of Fire and Country of Wind has broken in betrayal, and many of the world's most powerful ninja have been slain in the offing. A new day dawns in the Five Great Countries, and with it the beginning of a new era: the balance of power has shifted away from the Hidden Leaf and its role as patriarchal peace-keeper, and a new Secret War seems to be looming on the horizon...

The characters are young Genin (Rank Four Martial Artists) raised into these turbulent times. The uncertainty of the future and massive voids in the balance of power have given rise to an environment of non-stop missions for the ninja of all the great villages, making this the perfect time for young rising stars to make a name for themselves in a world that's languished in relative peace since the ending of the last Great War. What will they fight for? Rank and glory? Money and prestige? To pull the world back from the brink of another devastating war between the nations, or to tip it into chaos?

The game will use slightly modified Weapons of the Gods rules with new Kung Fu Styles added to replicate some of the more iconic abilities from the anime, and various setting alterations (Rank is now tied to the system of Genin-Chunin-Jonin-Sannin, for instance, rather than the numerical system), new lores, etc. Player characters will compose three- to four-man 'cells' hailing from the various nations.

Exalted: Mandate of Heaven [Exalted 2e]

The Empress is dead, long live the Empress!

The Realm has slowly become aware of the fact that the Scarlet Empress is missing, and for those in power the realization has begun to dawn that she isn't coming back. They've made as many subtle moves as they can, and tilted the balance of power as far in their favor as possible without giving up the game; very soon, someone's going to cross the line, and the delicate illusion of normalcy that's been maintained for the months Her Highness has been absent is going to come tumbling down like a house of cards.

A dark horse waits in the shadows for the war of succession to begin: a young and seemingly powerful Dynast, not even possessed of the blood of the dragons. A non-factor, it seems, though a relative further-removed from the pure blood (and divine right associated with it) decides not to chance on it, regardless, and dispatches assassins to remove the would-be heir in secrecy.

And that's when our young Dynast awakens.

A yougn exalt now vies for the throne, without the support of vast Dynastic houses and sprawling armies, but possessed of one quality which no other contender can hope to match: the Mandate of Heaven! The game follows this Solar in a game of Gateway (or Shogi, if you prefer) on the grandest scale, as allies are found, an army is raised, and a very unconventional war is waged to wrest the reigns of regal power from the squabbling Dragon-Blooded tearing at the carcass of the Empress's vast empire.

Looking for: A Solar, who will be specially restricted to non-combat charms (with the exception of War) for the most part, and a number of Dragon-Blooded. The combat will mostly be on the Terrestrial level, probably involving a lot of Warstriders and army-based warfare, while the Solar's lot is strategy and epic-level social/political action. Think Code Geass meets Escaflowne meets Avatar; lots of medieval mecha-knights, elemental kung-fu, and epic battlefield strategy with a more-than-healthy dose of political intrigue.

The Dragon-Blooded characters would be PCs in their own right. If a player wanted, they could be loyal or even subservient to the Solar for whatever reason. They could also be using the Solar to accomplish their own ends--to use the Code Geass example, they could be Outcaste Terrestrials trying to liberate their nation from the Realm--or even trying to manipulate the Solar to get themselves onto the throne. A PC could even be spying on/plotting to betray the Solar, if they wanted, as long as there exists a reasonable pretense for the PCs all to be working together.

(Of course, if you were having trouble finding a logical reason why your Dragon-Blooded PC would follow the Solar, it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for the Solar to Social-Fu him. There are charms like Know the Soul's Price that can easily justify long-term alliances even in the most unlikely of cases.)

What I'm asking is, basically the intent is the solar is the core of the group, and the other characters are arranged around such, working as part of his/her bid to take over the Realm, for whatever reason?

Thats what it sounds like to me, Kolbrandr. The Solar -was- a dynast, an extremely minor player for the throne, but exalts- and now is a major player for the throne. The other characters will be allies helping the Solar along.

I'm all for the Exalted game, Hikari- probably as a DB, but if we can't find a player for the Solar I can take that role.

What I'm asking is, basically the intent is the solar is the core of the group, and the other characters are arranged around such, working as part of his/her bid to take over the Realm, for whatever reason?

That's essentially correct, yes. The assumption is that all of the characters are working together, whether to help the Solar take over the Realm, or to destroy the Realm as it stands now (or prevent someone else from taking it over). The Dragon-Blooded are certainly allowed to have their own goals, even those that are unrelated or outright conflict with the Solar taking over the world, but they need to be able to maintain enough of a pretense to keep a rough group format.

The Terrestrials don't have to be combat-specific, either. Because the pinnacle of combat in this game will likely be 'Terrestrial Exalt with Celestial Martial Arts in a Warstrider', there's certainly a lot more room for the DBs to shine in combat, but with only one Solar who's likely to be tied largely down in Social/Leadership/War charms, there's plenty of room for Terrestrial spies, sorcerers, inventors, and the like.

Ah, okay. Thank you for clarifying. It sounded for a moment more like a Romance of the Three Kingdoms style, multi factional, dynasts going for the throne kind of thing. I'm not so much compelled by the other. Good luck with it though.

No Lunars. I really want to keep the pinnacle of combat at the Dragon-Blooded with Celestial Martial Arts level, for one thing, and have Heroic Mortals and non-massive formations of troops actually retain some significance. Besides, with the Solar tooling around in the social/strategic/diplomatic circles, there's not much for the Terrestrials to shine at if there are Lunars or Sidereals around.

As for how the Solar will survive... wits, guts, and juevos. Given that this Solar is restricted from combat charms, I'm expecting to see one that's able to talk his worst enemies into switching sides, outsmart the greatest tactical and political geniuses of the world, and generally be really pretty awesome at stuff.

Of course, there's some element of deus ex machina. There always is in Exalted. Really, how likely is it for any given Circle of 5 Solars newbies to not get pounced by vastly superior assassins before they even manage to meet one another, much less before they're strong enough to reasonably defend themselves against Sidereal Martial Arts and similar chicanery? How truly probable is it for a group of D&D characters to never manage to meet a monster who can smear them into a thin red paste before they've gained enough experience to fight it? Most RPG Systems just assume a certain level of hand-waiving in that regard.

(Not that I plan on really throwing around a lot of Lunars, Sidereals, or Abyssals, anyway. As with any Exalted game, the expectations are that the PCs will be on the high end of the scale of what they're dealing with; ie, mostly other Terrestrials, gods and elementals, and groups of heroic mortals.)

As for how the Solar will survive... wits, guts, and juevos. Given that this Solar is restricted from combat charms, I'm expecting to see one that's able to talk his worst enemies into switching sides, outsmart the greatest tactical and political geniuses of the world, and generally be really pretty awesome at stuff.

Of course, there's some element of deus ex machina. There always is in Exalted. Really, how likely is it for any given Circle of 5 Solars newbies to not get pounced by vastly superior assassins before they even manage to meet one another, much less before they're strong enough to reasonably defend themselves against Sidereal Martial Arts and similar chicanery? How truly probable is it for a group of D&D characters to never manage to meet a monster who can smear them into a thin red paste before they've gained enough experience to fight it? Most RPG Systems just assume a certain level of hand-waiving in that regard.

Personally, I disagree with the hand-waving part, having other explanations myself. And social charms really don't work when someone is surprise-attacking you... However, I don't want to get into this discussion here, really! You are the GM, so I accept that this is your approach and will play accordingly if I join the game - I just wanted to know your approach to it.

I don't know if I would have the time to join this game, so don't count on my character. But just in case I can join, would a Heroic mortal bodyguard with TMAs fit into your game?

I could see this happening. Obviously this would be difficult, but then again who better than the champions of Heaven to pull off the impossible. With the Dynast Houses running around in confusion, the All Seeing Eye basically on the run along with magistrates and the Wyld Hunt understaffed and now actually facing Anathema in the Scavenger Lands there isnít a lot at home to immediately sense them. So long as someone can keep the detection away from the young Exalt so that the Bronze Faction passes over them, they have a running shot.

Also, how many Dynasts in these desperate times would resist making a deal with the devil. If the Solar can play him/herself off as weaker, in debt to someone or fearful for her life than that may make a Dynast secure enough to make that deal. Once that is done well, the discovery of the Exalt would mean humiliation for the Dynast. Also dealings with the Guild to infiltrate the Realm markets or deals with the Cynis to compete against the Guild. There are also a lot of disgruntled spirits in the Realm that would love some pay back for the Immaculate Orderís restrictions.

I never said the Solar has to rush out into the middle of the Imperial City and declare, "I am the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun--that is Anathema if you aren't sure what I mean and need to know whether or not to kill me?--and I declare myself your new king! Please wait until I find an army." I... really am hoping for a Solar PC who's a brilliant schemer and master manipulator; less Napoleonic Complex, more Napoleon.

The initial assumption is that the Solar's exaltation is probably unknown to the Realm and that he/she has at least some interest in keeping it that way. It isn't even assumed that the Dragon-Blooded PCs (at least at first) know exactly what the Solar is, at least at first... a well-played Social/Bureaucracy/etc. Solar really isn't as painfully obvious as a furious Melee Dawn decked out in golden regalia blasting the countryside with his iconic aura while parrying meteors with the flat of his blade.

I never said the Solar has to rush out into the middle of the Imperial City and declare, "I am the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun--that is Anathema if you aren't sure what I mean and need to know whether or not to kill me?--and I declare myself your new king! Please wait until I find an army." I... really am hoping for a Solar PC who's a brilliant schemer and master manipulator; less Napoleonic Complex, more Napoleon.

The initial assumption is that the Solar's exaltation is probably unknown to the Realm and that he/she has at least some interest in keeping it that way. It isn't even assumed that the Dragon-Blooded PCs (at least at first) know exactly what the Solar is, at least at first... a well-played Social/Bureaucracy/etc. Solar really isn't as painfully obvious as a furious Melee Dawn decked out in golden regalia blasting the countryside with his iconic aura while parrying meteors with the flat of his blade.

Again, I really don't want to discuss that! And you don't need to persuade me, I'm not GMing this game.I'm still interested in your answer about the Heroic mortal PC, though!

No Lunars. I really want to keep the pinnacle of combat at the Dragon-Blooded with Celestial Martial Arts level, for one thing, and have Heroic Mortals and non-massive formations of troops actually retain some significance. Besides, with the Solar tooling around in the social/strategic/diplomatic circles, there's not much for the Terrestrials to shine at if there are Lunars or Sidereals around.

I was going to ask for the roll of the solar, but I'd actual rather see Spider do it.

Spider, if you get the job, let us know what kinds of minions your recruiting. Do you focus on superpowered harem girls a little? Are you a puppet master who pulls the strings of puppet masters? Or do you go straight for the generals?